The Blacktower Cemetery, located west of the Chavez West Housing addition near Cannon Air Force Base, is considered to be a lost cemetery and shows signs of not having been kept up for a long time. Tall grass, weeds and stickers guard the entrance to this piece of eastern New Mexico's history, but at one point airman from neighboring Cannon Air Force Base turned out to restore and clean up this treasure. According to a June, 2009 article, 25 volunteers showed up to the cemetery to clear away the weeds and shovel away the sand that had blown over the headstones. In the six years since the service project, the cemetery has fallen back into its forgotten, buried state. Railroad tie steps still exist and lead visitors to the entrance of the cemetery where several headstones are visible, but extremely difficult to get to.
According to a May 22, 2009, Clovis News Journal article, the Blacktower Cemetery was originally started as a family cemetery and became the final resting place for 42 individuals. The article cites local High Plains Historical Foundation member Harold Kilmer as saying that Blacktower is unique because research suggests that two Civil War veterans are buried there: Emmett Fulkerson, who died June 17, 1911, and William Brantley, who died Feb. 7, 1908.
Kilmer said the cemetery was started by an unknown farmer’s family about 1906 after an infant’s death.
The 2009 CNJ article stated that records showed the Clovis and Curry County Chamber of Commerce was the owner of the cemetery.
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